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Making the Transition to University?
fracex asks: "I am currently finishing my last year of high school, and have some important decisions to make about next year. Pretty much all my life I have seen myself as going to university as soon as I finished high school, but recently I have been considering taking a year off from school to work and travel. Not only this, I'm not even totally sure what I want to take in university, is what I still want to take. So, taking a year off could give me time to find more direction and focus. What was your experience with your transition between high school and university, and are you glad you made the decisions you did?"
from school to university for the fourth year now. No end in sight.
Personally, I would go to the University. In my experience most of the classes you take the first couple of years are not going to be useful for you (in a specific sense) in the long term. I took Scandinavian literature in translation, for example. I think if you knew exactly what field you wanted to take you would be very frustrated because only 20% of your classes are actually in that field. Get the broad stuff over as fast as possible.
Laboratree - Scientific collaboration based on OpenSocial.
If you really want to go to college, then just go. If you decide to "take a year off" odds are you'll never actually end up going.
My recommendation would be to go to school. If it's not to your liking after a semester or two - drop out. It's much better to say that you've tried at something than to never have even attempted.
In addition, it's much harder to go back to school later in life once you start the drudgery of "life maintenance" : I work because I have to pay the bills. I pay the bills because I need a roof over my head. I need a roof over my head so I can sleep after working. It's a viscious cycle.
Taking a year off to travel etc sounds nice now but it's the beginning of a very slippery slope known as sloth. Too much laziness will propel you into a life that's mediocre: it'll be okay but not great.
There's a gorilla from Manilla whose a fella that stinks of vanilla and has salmonella.
I didn't go to college but ended up with a degree anyway. I was advised to attend college by just about everybody, but I started work and took my degree postal with an accredited University.
If you can get accepted to a university do so and then delay entry for a year, most colleges will allow this.
During the year off either travel or work like a dog. Either way you'll be in a better psotion to judge next year if you want to go.
I took a year off to work/travel six years ago, and here I am, working like a dog, and still haven't returned to school. Go, and at least finish a bachelor's degree, or a diploma in something.
Take a year off after you finish uni. You will be more cultured and appreciate the places you travel much much more!
If you want to go work, go work. Experiance is the best teacher. Too many times have I been on job sites with superb craftsmen complaining about engineers who have never been on the job site. "engineers think they know it all from behind the desk" Book smarts is over and under rated. What everyone needs is hands on and the vision of theory.
The idea of traveling is great and all, but seriously, there's a lot of opportunity in going straight to University, and exploring your options there. There's always the option of studying abroad, which I HIGHLY reccomend if you have the bug to go see Europe or Asia or whatever. Not only will you get to see what you want to see, you'll be that much closer to the ultimate goal, graduation!
Travel aside, University is an experience that I am grateful every day for having done, and would repeat again in an instant. I often have dreams about quitting my job and going back to school, and I like my job! Do yourself a favor and go, don't think twice, try everything that comes your way no matter what, and in the end you may even have a few good memories to reflect on along with an education.
I skipped a grade in elementary school, and I thought about taking a year between high school and college. I ended up going straight through, and I had a great time. I had a bunch of friends, though, who did take a gap year. They loved that, too.
Most colleges and universities are happy to let you defer your admission for a year (after you're already accepted, of course), as long as you have something interesting planned. Don't take a year off if you think that you're going to end up sitting around your parents' house, or working for McDonalds for a year. But if you can afford to go travel around the world, or you can volunteer to save the planet, or learn to play the bagpipes, or work on a lobster boat, or something else that you probably will never have the time to do again, then I say go for it.
As far as what you want to study, I'm guessing that if you don't have a firm idea now, you won't have a firm idea in a year. But that's not really a problem. Most people have no idea what they want to study when they're freshmen, and a large number of them have no idea what they want to study when they're graduating. You just take the courses that sound interesting, and you'll find something that you want to spend a little more concentrated effort on. Don't stress about it.
"A witty saying proves nothing." --Voltaire
Definitetly travel. You'll gain perspective on your future. If you rush into a program you're not sure of you'll find yourself dfrained but half-way through and feel the need to finsh anyay. Travel and you'll mature and then you'll learn so much more. But do not take the year off and work. That is a terrible idea. It will numb your brain and you'll become dependent on that extra cash: do something that broadens your horizons not narrows them. Oh, and live in rez first year even if you live in town to begin with. It's a totally different experience and you'll meet many more people that way. This is coming from someone who didn't and regrets it. Oh, last but not least: trying to hold a job while in school empoverishes your education.
Your CPU is not doing anything else, at least do something.
If you don't go right away do something like CityYear or another kind of job with a built in ending. Otherwise you run the risk of staying too long and never going to school. My "just for a year so I can decide what to do" job lasted 7 years. I would have stayed too but there was no room for further advancement without a college degree. Also, expect your social life to take a huge hit if you don't follow your age group to college.
I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
The only thing students do at University is hump each other.
Don't take a year off unless you're going to be working an incredibly shit job for absolutely no pay. Then you'll be glad to get out of it and into school, and you'll have a realistic idea what grad-school is like.
Best experience of my life though. But unplanned things occured in my life and I'm finding it harder and harder to set myself to go back to studies. The more time goes by the harder it is to decide to go back.
Did that help? If not, know that you'll most likely have this dilemna later on if you do go travel.
I got burned out at college very quickly because I knew exactly what I wanted to specialize in, but saw three years of B.S. keeping me from getting there. Instead of focusing on classwork, I focused on my employment and building my skills outside of school. I've now got a 7-year-deep resume in a variety of very marketable fields, but no degree. I think that had I not known what I wanted to do I would have been more receptive to the "fluff" classes (which are valuable in their own right!), and might still be in school today.
My advice: keep with it, and keep an open mind. Don't confine yourself to any major until you've got your A.A. (mid-bachelor's). Dabble in as many things as possible, until you find something that really ignites your passion. Then, and only then, should you begin to flirt with the idea of specialization (as loose a term as that is w.r.t. your Bachelor's degree).
B
If you take a year off there is a good chance you will then enjoy life so much (especially if you get a job with good money) and decide university is not necessary. Later in life you will regret your decision.
My advice would be to just get it over with education. Time off means having to get back up to speed.
Work at some kind of minimum wage, manual labour type of job and drink heavily with your friends. Get all the partying out of your system during this time. When you go to university or college you'll know why you're there if you follow my advice. You'll see all the kids who're straight out of high school dropping classes, partying like mad and generally wasting time. All the while you'll be focused because you know how horrible it is to work crappy shift work minimum wage jobs.
School is fun. That's why there are so many movies about it. It's really not that hard the first year, but if you take off, you will be less likely to go and will likely have a harder time if you do. Most people forget stuff if they do not use it and the "basics" in college are not much harder than high school. If you think that you need time off, just sign up for a couple of basic classes and a couple of others that will let you just try stuff out and "find some direction".
Weigh these facts though:
1. When you are in school, you are not "off work" at 5:00 you will have to study. After a while it seems to encompass everything in your life and that sucks.
2. Spring break doesn't mean very much when you aren't in school, except that you get to hang out with your friends that are.
3. There are chicks your age at school. These chicks may be drinking beer. This may lead to precarious situations.
4. Hot chicks need help with math. (not to say that all math chicks are not hot!! Just that dumb chicks tend to be.)
...taking a year off could give me time to find more direction and focus.
You're not really going to take a year to "focus". That's a convenient excuse for just not doing it. If you don't want to go to school, then don't do it. If you're not sure, there's no harm in taking some classes while you're deciding (assuming financing is not the issue).
It's simple: I demand prosecution for torture.
You may not realize it, but the time you've spent in highschool has developed habits of self-discipline which are all too easily lost, and hard to regain. I would recommend against taking a year out from school for this reason.
To ease the transition, I would heartily recommend doing what I did, which is to take a year or two of classes at a Junior College (two in the California Bay Area are DeAnza (where I went after highschool) and Homestead). The atmosphere was a pleasant middle-ground between highschool and a "real" college, and they offered many "prep" courses specifically for students making the transition. It is also a good way to get some of your pre-req classes out of the way (the really basic, low-level classes) for a fraction of the cost (tuition at a Jr. College can be a tenth that of a Univerisity). I also lucked out in that some of the courses at DeAnza (higher levels of calculus, et al) were taught as three classes, whereas UCSC crammed them into one or two quarters. I feel that I retained more from these spread-out classes than I did from the crammed courses at UCSC. About 80% of the units I took at DeAnza wound up transferring to UCSC. Also, there were some courses offered at DeAnza (like Asian History) which were not offered by UCSC, so I got exposed to a greater variety of subjects this way.
One of my mistakes was to take too many pre-req's at DeAnza, which left me with nothing but hard courses to take at UCSC. This made my quarters more difficult than they should have been (taking four hard-core CS courses per quarter wore me down).
Some people say that the quality of education at a Jr. College is inferior to that from a University, but I disagree. Both will have some good instructors, and some not-so-good instructors, and the low-level classes are something you can learn pretty well from anywhere -- Calculus, for instance, hasn't really changed much since the 19th century :-) and the books will probably be the same no matter which school you attend. I know that my career has not suffered in any way for having attended two years of Jr. College before going to UCSC.
Good luck figuring out your major!
-- TTK
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
(This was written by Mary Schmich, no matter what you hear on the internet...)
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
I am of few in my group of friends that decided to go straight to university, and it wasn't always easy. I actually change degrees in my second year, and picked it up again (for a double major) in my 3rd! It's a hard, but rewarding time.
My other friends, who chose to take a year off, are doing much worse. All of them. If you are the type to indulge in "substances" my friends are a perfect example of how taking a "year off" could go horribly wrong for you. Each and everyone one of them has now been working low-paying jobs just to keep themselves fed and hepped up.
I'm not saying taking a year off is always bad, but it makes it easier to constantly put things off and eventually end up in a rutt with NO OPTIONS.
Tread with caution.
I just pooped your party.
Join a college that offers exchange studies in another country. Finish your first year; get your bearings, then go to another country and study for a year or two. You get to finish your studies, get to travel while not being a tourist
The travel, I can't speak to, except for this - my best friend is currently in the Peace Corps. She says that for the most part, the PC volunteers that are out of college get a lot more out of the experience than those who go in between high school and college. Take that for what you will, since you're not talking about PC specifically. You do do a lot of growing up and learning about all kinds of things during college that I think would make travel more valuable afterwards.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
What was so hard about high school that you feel the need for "time off"? My 4 years in college were some of the best of my life. It's a win win situation. You get to have fun and you get a jump start on your career.
Some here will say go to school to maintain your momentum. Others here will say travel because it makes you well-rounded. I think that neither of those suggestions is bad at all. There's value in either approach, and you won't ruin your life if you choose one or the other.
BUT, there is a danger ahead. Marriage. Don't get me wrong, marriage isn't bad. It's great in fact, if that's what you want. The danger is that you will get married too young. The changes you will go through in your life and thinking are much much greater than you can imagine (if you're doing it right, that is). If you get married at the age of 22 or 23, you stand a good chance of waking up when you are 30 years old and realizing that you and your wife have grown in two completely different directions. Putting off marriage for a few years is an excellent thing to do.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
Look for travel abroad programs and such, or take a leave of absence after a year.
College was a rewarding experience... more rewarding than travel in alot of ways.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
Why it depends on your parents ? Well some will tell you "You work now go get yourself an apartment and live on your life", while some other will allow you to stay home, sometimes for a small fee (hey, only fair if you work that you pay a small rent).
I went straight to college from highschool, tried 2 disciplines (legal school and computer science) and dropped out of both after half a session. Why ? Because I went from a totally controlled environment (punishment for being late in class, homeworks you have to turn-in even if they don't count on for your scores, etc) to a totally-free environment (didn't have to show up to the courses, so I almost never did, in high school I always made copies of my friend's homework because I found them stupid to do so in college I was basically screwed, can'T do that). Therefore, getting work experience would've taught me the maturity needed to go to college. And hey, I wasn't an immature brat after highschool, many people thought I was 22-24 while I was 16, but maturity isn'T about ONE thing, it's about many aspects of your life, and I believe that not many students have, no matter how intelligent, the maturity to go to college RIGHT AFTER highschool, let alone university. I'm not saying to go work 10 years; 1 to 3 will do just fine. You actually have to be disciplined and do not, I repeat, DO NOT get yourself overwhelmed with credit cards and/or other debts.
2 of my friends actually did that; one made half his CS college degree, went to work for 3-4 years, then finished the other half while still working fulltime. Another worked 4 years then decided to go back to school fulltime. Both agree that it was a GOOD thing to get work experience... I should've done the same.
Seriously, don't. While it may appear to make sense, it will do you more harm than good. Not only will you waste a year - and the definition of waste varies here - but you may find it even more difficult to return. I have many friends who did the same and they regret it. Don't be like them, be smarter.
Besides, it's not as big a deal as you appear to believe. As long as you have discipline and the desire to learn, you won't have any problems. The first year or so is easy enough as it is!
P.S. If you *really* want to get ahead, take a couple of those basic classes at your local community college this summer. Not only will you get ahead, but you'd be making an ever smoother transition!
Good luck!
A blog like any other.
Take the first year off. Get your own place to live. Nothing will motivate you into your studies better than a crummy job for a horrible boss.
You will learn several life lessons required to succeed in your choosen occupation, and in school life. My year off working in a store as a department manager gave me a extreme advantage to those who came to the business classes with only high school and mom's cooking under there belt. YMMV, this happened in 1980.I have no particular regrets about my University experience. I'm the guy who picked his major right off, and stuck with it through a Masters because I knew what I wanted, going in.
I say "the guy" because so far, I have yet to meet anyone else in real life who took this path. (I'm sure there are many on Slashdot, but that's a much larger pool, so obviously there will be some. My point is the relative size.)
My wife regrets not learning there was a vet tech program in college, instead getting a Zoology degree. And again, note the phrase "not learning"; she never explored enough to find out, and certainly nobody told her.
If you don't know what you want to do, don't declare a major in the first year. Ignore the U requirements for a bit, and just start taking every 101 class you think sounds interesting. Personally, along with my Canonical Computer Nerd path, I also could have majored in music (abysmal earnings potential, I don't think I have "it"), psychology (fascinating), hell, even sociology (useless discipline for supporting me, though). And that's not even a complete list.
It's especially helpful to do this if you're intellectually diverse, because I don't believe in the "one true job" idea. If you find many interesting things, you can pick the one most likely to support you.
That said, while a year off can focus you (or the complete opposite, only you know), and you might find that thing you want to do, it's a relatively limited selection compared to what a University would offer. How are you going to find out if you like Psychology? Or math? (What you've studied up until now isn't math, it's just number twiddling and formula memorization, unless you've done a ton of proofs.) Or chemical engineering? I'm not aware of a way to discover that out of University. (Sure, you might pick up a chance at one of them, but you're not going to get a chance to choose from the entire selection.)
I have no answers, just more questions, but that's a good start, too.
Everybody has different experiences, and most people (hopefully) will base this off their own experience.
What I recommend is to go to the University directly after school. Don't worry about not know what you want to major in, it will come to you in time, and during that time, you can be taking your general education classes (which will give you more of an idea of what you can possibly major in).
There are a bunch of other factors that I'm sure can/will come into play for you. But also consider (maybe it will apply), you parents will probably be more likely to loan you money to go to school, while you're younger, rather than older.
From my own experience, I have found that it is harder getting back into University after leaving it, I'm guessing the same will apply to taking a year off.
YOU'RE WINNER !
Another lame blog
University will be a good life experience for dealing with people.
Whatever field you decide to follow, find the oldest, brightest workplace mentor (not the photocopy guy that's been there for 39 years) and learn from him/her. You will gain from the experience from someone who grew up in an environment where having a degree was not a necessary requirement.
The university environment will provide much better guidance than you could ever provide for yourself. If you take a year off, you'll probably end up just hanging out, and come a year later you'll still have no clue what you want to do. At that point, you'll go to university and figure it out. So why waste the year? Go NOW.
On the other hand, if you're on some kind of soul-seeking quest, that can only be done on your own. But it sounds like you're trying to figure out what you want to study. The best place to figure that out is at the university.
I'm not usually a grammar nazi, but this happens to be a discussion about the merits of college education, so you should be held up to the standard of knowing the difference between there and their.
:)
So, what college did you say you attended, Dan?
http://tinyurl.com/4ny52
"What was your experience with your transition between high school and university, and are you glad you made the decisions you did?"
Well, between high school and university, I got arrested for Public Intoxication, 2nd Degree Criminal Mischief, and Burglary and I pretty much had to leave the state.
Am I glad I made the decisions I did? Not really.
I started university this year, I took a year our between 6th form (rough UK equiv of High School) and I really enjoyed it, I spent the year working for a large multinational company in the eBusiness section, although much of the work wasn't technically very difficult at all, the experience of simply being in the workplace was fairly enlightening.
;) will ask you to return after uni, and you won't even have to job hunt!
However, if you're thinking of taking this route (a year working) make sure you leave plenty of time to travel if you want to, make sure that the work is something related to your chosen area of study (it doesn't need to be that close, just to give you and idea of what kind of jobs you might be looking at, all you really need is a placement in IT somewhere, it will open your eyes enough - assuming you want to do a computing related job). I highly recommend you consider going straight to university however, if your chosen area of study is highly theoretical. I originally was due to study Maths and Computer Science at university, however, I have completely forgotton most of the maths, and consequently lost interest in it, so after the first year is over I will be doing computer science exclusively.
Whatever you do, enjoy yourself, and get some good experience. If you have work experience like that on your CV (an entire years worth in a relevant job) that will kick ass at job interviews, compared to all the straight line academics. You may even find the company you work for during your "studying break"
I wish you the best of luck at university/in a job/whatever you choose.
.sigs are for losers
I have some important decisions to make ... I'm not even totally sure ... decisions, decisions...
"Ever notice that 'what the hell!' is always the right decision?"
- Marilyn Monroe (1926 - 1962)
(I think Marilyn would take the year off.)
Study! High school was a breeze compared to what you're about to get put through.
And when you're not studying, please remember that the purpose of college is to exchange ideas... don't sit in your dorm all day playing video games, get out there and meet people!
Get to know your professors, if you can't find a summer internship, maybe you can do research for one of them.
[o]_O
expect your social life to take a huge hit if you don't follow your age group to college.
WTF?! Show up at college a few years late and you'll be the slightly wiser person able to prey on your new, slightly younger, peer group. Your age group will become their age group. All good.
If you decide to head to uni, I'd advise you to take courses which will help you with your later studies. Load up on the English & writing courses; most high schools don't seem to produce people who can write in correct English anymore. If you're thinking of a certain field of study, perhaps take some basic courses in other fields. It's good to be able to relate to others. Take some foreign language courses. Take some history courses. Take some business courses and public speaking. It all relates.
I did. I travelled to Europe, worked, and got a start on figuring out what I wanted to do at school.
Two years into university, I switched majors from education to sociology. Then I went to graduate school for a Masters in library science. Then I went to law school.
Today, I'm running my own software company. Superficially, you might think that all that education has been wasted. After all, I learned how to program when I was 12. All my experiences -- the abortive education program, the sociology degree, the library science degree, and the law degree -- and, yes, my experiences during that year off -- all have contributed to my success such as it is.
This is a unique time in your life. When you enroll in school, you'll start to have obligations. New obligations will follow -- job, family, etc. With these obligations come many delights and rewards, but you may never again have an opportunity to just live for yourself and no one else. Take some time to appreciate it.
And don't agonize over what to major in. Major in what interests you and make it for yourself. The average professional changes career tracks several times before retirement anyway. I would only temper that advise by adding that highly technical fields are essentially unattainable to a humanities major without significant further training, so make sure you don't cut off that avenue unless you're sure it doesn't interest you.
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. BB
Experiance [sic], however, is not the best spell checker.
Skipping a year can have uninteded effects, if so far you ahve done well, the skipped year is something that a college, or company would raise an eyebrow at, and the same thing even if you aren't doing terribly well. Besides, college is one of the best experiences of your life, I wouldn't delay if I were you; far too much fun.
Go straight into the University after school.
If you decide it's not for you, then take off and do some traveling.
Making the decision to not do it now might just lead to you never going back, despite your intentions, and you might end up regreting it.
Life has a funny way of getting in the way of what you intended to do.
my advice is to choose a school that matches your major. schools will put a higher percentage of monies into certain programs. to get your monies worth i suggest choosing a school who feels your major is their #1 program at their school. :-)
-- Betting on the survival of the media industry is a serious risk. I advise investing elsewhere.
I was dealing with the same exact situation when I graduated highschool. I decided to take the year off, unfortunately the whole romantic notion of doing whatever you want and working, sucks! I ended up in retail for two years and taking random classes in community college. After a while I realized how much the world sucks and now i'm back in college full time pursuing my bachelors in Physics. I took my hatred and fear of working and getting stuck in a deadend job and managed to transfer that into working hard at school, and currently doing better than I ever did in Highschool or Community college combined.
I learned some valuable lessons from those 2 years off, as you may be reading from what other people have said in this thread. Life sucks outside of School. If you do decide to take the year off, don't fall into the pitfall of "Saving for College". You'll be at that stage forever. And don't be afraid to take out more loans than you can shake a stick at, college isn't cheap!
If you do decide not to go to school next year, I strongly recommend that you not position it as "taking a year off." Essentially, that suggests that you're putting your life on hold for a year. Nobody needs a year-long vacation. Instead, do something productive with that time. Set some sort of goal and meet it. Else, you end up risking the no-end-in-sight-job that many people here are warning you against.
Maybe consider it this way: What can you do for the next year that will help you if/when you do decide to go back to school? What if you decide to not go back to school? Will you be on some sort of career path?
Whatever you decide--just don't put your life on hold for a year. Trust me, you can't get that time back.
The only other things I'd add are:
Yeah, right.
Also, college could be the most enjoyable four years (or more) of your life. As long as you don't get too bogged down by the studies (which you shouldn't) you will have a blast. Remember that college is as much a social experience as an educational one.
Why not try what I always wished I had done? If you're planning to go to a high-powered engineering school or something similar, start off by taking a year of humanities and pure science courses at the nearest cheap state school or community college. You can adjust the class schedule so you can work at the same time, you'll get a good amount of experience in learning how to do your homework when no one else really cares if you do it, and hey...if you screw up, it doesn't matter! You could also snag some transfer credits and schedule a few lazy semesters in college.
Once you're in college, I also recommend taking one or two humanities courses during the summer. It really helps to keep your study skills alive, and transfer credits are like gold at a tough college. Basically, if you can't sprinkle transfer credits throughout semesters at an engineering school, you have doomed yourself to having to no life.
Plus you can buy alcohol.
-- Too lazy to get a lower UID.
My recommendation is to not to do it between high school and university.
Premise is that you are American, and are "average" when it comes to social adaptation.
University is a great place to continue your maturity, learn to live away from home and parents, make good decisions and bad, and learn something academically as well. When you finish school, find a job and work for a while.
After a few years of working (paying off student loans, saving up a little cash, deciding what you like and don't), then you are allowed to take off as much as a couple years. Don't set a timeline. Go to some place that interests you (and where you can live cheap and work a little), move around a bit, and challenge yourself. When you run out of money, figure out what to do next...
This is what I did. I know that going back to school after spending a couple years on a tropical island wouldn't work for me. (Honestly, learning to write again was hard...) Also, I personally needed the extra time to "grow" as a person that college allowed me. I have noticed that the vast majority of Americans have this same need. Most Europeans tend to be considerably more mature at 18 than their US counterparts.
I spent most of two years scuba diving on an island in Thailand, with trips off to Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, and Ireland. When I was done, I was ready to go back to engineering. After a few more years of engineering, I'm ready to head back again for a while. It was fun, and I am happy I did it. I am also happy that I waited until I was over 25 to do it, where I had some financial backup and a better sense of how things really work. It was also easier for me to find "good" work being a little older.
It was the smartest thing that I ever did. It will give you the chance to see what life outside of school is like and clear your head before college. You could also use this year off to gain residency in the state of your college, this was also pretty helpful for me.
The way you look at this question, in large part I believe, is based on what sort of culture you grow up in. I come from the U.S., and I am greatly dismayed by the "conveyor belt" approach so many of the young people in my country take to this process: HURRY!-GET-OUT-OF-HIGH-SCHOOLL!!HURRY!!HURRY!!ENRO LL-IN-COLLEGE!HURRY!!GRADUATE-IN-4-YEARS!!HURRY!!! START-YOUR-REST-OF-YOUR-LIFE-JOB-A-WEEK-AFTER-YOU- GRADUATE!!HURRY!!
It's that absurd when you step back and take a look at it.
That being said- Here's a few things to consider about taking time off and traveling/working in cool places-
I. YOU CAN'T DO THIS WHEN YOU'RE OLDER
-Once you have a wife and kids this is not an option. Period. Do it now, while you're young.
You'll never regret missing out on making a few bucks- but you _will_ regret not taking the chances you had when you had them.
II. YOU CAN LIVE IN THE GREATEST PLACES ON EARTH AS A WAITER OR A COOK
-All those burnt out middle class folks that take vacations to places that they wished they lived in? You can live there!! Be a waiter or a line cook at a resort on a tropical island somewhere. The fact that you speak English well? - makes it even easier. You won't get rich, but you'll have the time of your life.
III. YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO IT NOW
-Some colleges like to see that students took a year off before enrolling- ask the admissions people at the schools you are aplying to- but you don't _have_ to do it now. I took a total of two years off during my college tenure to live in Galcier National Park in the Rocky Mountains. Do it at strategic times in your academic career- after you finish a "block" of classes that are required for your major, for example.
Implied in the above advice I've given is that you should _live_ in a few different places for a short while- not just travel there. It will make all the difference in your life- and it might even lead to some unexpected "connections" when you start to look for a job.
Good luck, my friend.
when you do end up at university make sure that you
1. take a full undergraduate course where you need to write essays every month or two (better to learn to write at university than at work - your lecturer is more tolerant than your clients/boss)
2. get a lot of diverse friends so you can participate in things like theatre. movie making, radio...just in case you have some talent there.
3. try and do as much work/study during "office hours", the discipline will do you wonders when you get older, and leave your nights free for other activities (though you might ony be able to do this for the first 2 years)
4. understand all of lecture n BEFORE you have lecture n+1
ciao
Here's a better idea: go to university and do a study abroad program for a semester or a year. If you take a major that isn't too demanding, you can fit in a free semester very easily, and maybe even a free year if you don't take too many electives. Otherwise, you can just tack on a semester at the end.
Meanwhile, get a job on campus. Not fast-food or service work, either. There are lots of jobs in departmental offices and research labs. Assuming you're interested in programming or system administration (you are posting to Ask Slashdot...), there are often opportunities to learn real programming, which many of the student workers I've seen like a lot more than their CS classes. It's amazing how much pent-up demand there is for simple database programs, little tools to do text and data processing, etc., so even if your job isn't stricly IT-related, there might be opportunities to get some coding in.
Net result: you get a bachelor's degree, get to do some travel, get some decent job experience. And then you can use your connections and college internship/placement services to get a better job than you're going to get on your own (esp. with no degree and little experience).
-Esme
Some of us are better at being auto-didacts, and teach ourselves relentlessly no matter what. In that case, taking time to de-school yourself and explore the hands-on world of finding biosurvival tickets like money and being evaluated on the actual use-value of your products will provide necessary perspective. That perspective will allow the inquiring mind to plan a course of university study that doesn't waste endless hours and dollars.
On the other hand, some of us need peer involvement and impassioned discourse in order to learn effectively. In that case, post-secondary school of any kind offers the exploratory environment that will help you discover your true interests, and so long as you don't expect a vocation, there'll be no time wasted. Just seek out the ones who take the curriculum further than required.
I personally jumped into university at 16 due to parental prodding, took way too many drugs in 2nd year, dropped out, partied 'til it was out of my system, then went to work in the bush where I couldn't spend any money and spent the evenings with obscure but important books and notepads. Then I took the savings and travelled alone around the globe for 18 months on a shoestring, working as I went--all very good decisions for my education (except for the exceess part).
In grad school, I learned more from my peers than from the curriculum. All my tech and creative skills (the vocational stuff) were gathered from experience. YMMV.
Damn those pesky terrorists
Being a mere sophomore, I remember my transition quite well. In my opinion -- it's not a big deal. More than anything make sure you're happy. If you're not, you can always transfer but keep that to a last resort. Going into college you don't have to know what you want to do but a general idea helps -- take as many diverse classes as possible. Learn as much as possible. I will say this, coming in with AP Credit can help a bunch in the self-discovery process so you can bypass the basics and get to the good stuff to find out what you really want to do. Study hard. Party hard. Sleep and BE SURE to try to do things that interest you in your free-time instead of just hitting up the video-games (though that's never a bad thing)
Now then, Dmitri, you know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the Bomb...
I should have taken time off after going to a very sheltered high school, instead I went into college, was not happy and did poorly. I worked for 4 years then got into grad school, then medical school and did very well.
I was more rounded, and knew what I wanted and this I know, helped me.
There's no point in going to college, when you're not happy, or too naive. It's best to go when you are ready and WANTING to go - you'll do much better. If you really want to go to university/college, then you will - just don't get caught up in the day to day stuff of living - keep the big picture in mind, and don't be afraid to start all over.
Oh, yeah - don't get married (if you're a guy) before the age of thirty.. MOst (all) of the Nobel prize winners did their important work before they got married.
..........FULL STOP.
I've seen *many* smart and logical people get sucked into the work vortex never to fully return to school- usually with regrets. Myself included.
Many of them also took time off later in college with only a year or less to go. Same reasons- burnout, 'gain more focus', explore, etc.
Most people don't know what they really want to do and change their majors several times. It's really common and once you're in you'll connect with people studying some very interesting things that you probably haven't been exposed to yet.
Keep in mind the university isn't the real world. When you lean toward a field of study that leads directly to a career -investigate that career before going too far into the major! Don't trust the university to show you the real world version.
For instance, architecture/arch engineering. In the university it draws many to the program and encourages / demands artistic expression. you get to sculpt and engineer! great! Walk out with a diploma with the zeal to build futuristic cities. Join the best architectue firm you can. be a CAD slave for 20-45 years drafting someone elses crappy designs from their napkins and then maybe when you're grey you can take over and do your own design, but then realize 90% of the 'design' is mosly just a million warehouses with a cheap facade stapled on to it.
This happened to 3 of my friends who didn't check out the actual career first. The 4th one did an internship and talked with every architect he could early on. He kept studying architecture because he liked it, but changed majors. He also wasn't too thrilled with the 'culture' of architects. The other 3 are kinda bitter about the whole thing.
Go to school, travel next summer. It's really not that long from now. Get a part time job if you need to, in fact definatley get a part time job if you can swing it. It can help keep you grounded from some of the academia glaze.
best of luck!
Firefox &
After seeing my freshman roommate take this class, make sure your University will let you skip this class!
Calling atheism and agnosticism a religion is like calling bald a hair color.
Having spent something like 18 years in university (I swear to God!) this is something I think I know something about. I dopn't think there's a lot to be gained by pushing into University right out of high school unless you're very much certain you want to do University. Assuming that you've got the freedom to make the choice --- read "are your parents going to completely lose their minds?" --- you've got several options.
Travel, as you've already suggested. You'd be amazed at what you'd learn from going someplace else. Try for places where they don't speak English. Prague is supposed to be great. Or Budapest.
Amsterdam is a great spot, but I could never get anyone to speak Dutch to me.
Learn another language. Spanish, French, Japanese, German, Russian, Chinese, all have potential advantages and you can learn them in wonderful places. But learn Czech, Magyar (Hungarian), Latvian, any other language, and you'll learn to think thoughts no never would have thought.
Join the Service. Stop screaming, you don't have to join the Marines. (Not that there's anything wrong with the Marines if you're inclined that way.) But join the Air Force, say, and you will have a lovely chance to find out a lot, and even learn something new, make some money, and develop some discipline tghat comesw in real handy later. Join the Army or the Marines, you get all the same stuff and a chance to get shot at, which can be very exciting. If you're not inc,ined that way, the Peace Corps could be good too.
Get a real job. Nothing to help develop the desire to do something in school like working at McDonalds for a while.
Get an education. No, a high school diploma doesn't count. Have a look at what you would have to have studied to graduate from a German Gymnasium with the Abenteuer. If I had kids, I'd urge them to go to a four-year, liberal-arts college before University. Any of the various versions of St John's, for example. Or Chicago's Great Books program, Morty Adler's thing. (If you don't know who he is, look it up, Mortimer Adler, Great Books.)
Do this especially if you want to do something technical: go to engineering school, and you'll miss the chance to see most all of that other educational stuff; at University of Colorado, where I sometimes teach, they used to have one required Humanities course... now they've got none. If you're inclined technically (this is Slashdot, after all) take as much math as you can, even major in math. But get all that liberal arts stuff.
Oh, and do some theater or public speaking. A techie type who can write literate English and speak comfortably in front of a crown has immense advantages.
I fully support the notion of not immediately going to college after high school. Few people are able to do so and prosper into truly happy human beings. Most will resign themselves to a stressful and boring life well below their potential.
This period in your life is best time to learn about *yourself* -- and that's not a subject you can study in college.
However...
I promise you that no matter how much thinking you plan to do in your year (or more) off, you will not somehow magically gain "direction and focus" -- if anything you'll find a dozen other subjects you're interested in. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a bad thing.
My advice is to embrace every thought, every feeling, every idea, every question that bubbles up from your mind and run with it. Do the things that you can't *not* do, say the things you can't *not* say, feel the things you can't *not* feel, study the things you can't *not* study. It doesn't really matter *what* you do so much as *why* you're doing it.
Learn who you are by tuning out fears (of failure, of your parents, of peers, of death, of change, of loss) and desires (for money, for success, for sex, for entertainment, for posessions), and seeing what remains.
This is basically a life-long task, but I think that there is no better time than the transition to adulthood to get a running start on it. I think it's harder to do so when simply going straight from the pressures of high school to the pressures of college.
Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
Just remember: 90% of what you learn at university isn't learned in the classroom.
Don't worry about what you're taking so much. Just go. You won't regret it.
I would recommend going to school. As others have mentioned, you need to keep the momentum up. I personally found college a lot more relaxing than grade school.
If you're not sure what you want to take, just take the courses you have to take for any degree. You know, the electives, liberal arts, and "social" stuff that you have to take no matter what.
The truth is, it doesn't really matter what your degree is in. Most job places just want to know what your experience is and if you're any good. Your degree is just a checkmark on their list and it often doesn't matter what it is in.
There is nothing saying you need to take a full load. Maybe take half a load and then work more on the side (internships are awesome for getting experience if you can find something that interests you).
The ratio of people to cake is too big
...I regret going straight to college all the time. Take a year off to live in Tokyo and sleep with over-anxious Japanese girls. Otherwise you'll just be in school, bitter, and playing World of Warcraft all the time (yes, this is me I'm describing here).
Build up your speed and tolerance for all the beer boat races you'll be participating in... I know I wish I did!
Taking a year off is well worth it, but only if you do some non-permanent thing with it. If all you are going to do is start working, it's probably a mistake. Especially if you'll still be sponging off Mom and Dad. But if you want to do something to expand your horizons:
1) Travel - if you've got a little bit of money and some git up an go, then - git up and go. You can also do this out of college, but the key is to wing it as you travel around. It doesn't take a lot of money, if you are creative. My wife traveled Europe for two or three years, picking oranges in Greece, she was a Nanny and a barmaid in London, and a half dozen odds and ends in between. Later in life, she took two years to travel from Fiji, through Australia and New Zealand, and the near east (She stayed a month in a Zen monastery in Indonesia) and finally ended up teaching English-as-a-second language in Japan.
2) Mid-term development work. When I was in the Peace Corps in Ghana, I would stumble across the occasional program for people just out of high school. It was anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months of in-field experience, where you were actually doing something to help people.
3) Mid-term religious work. Personally, I think most of this is bogus, but then again, I'm not religious. I think those that did it often feel they've got a lot out of it. (But if you're Christian, you might be in for a shock - at least in Ghana, your AVERAGE Christian-On-The-Street knew so much more about scripture than your average missionary it usually left their heads spinning. You certainly will not be bringing jesus to the savages, instead you'll be disussing King David's lineage through the twentieth generation...)
4) Scientific expedition grunt work. I don't know much about these, but I know they exist. If you check out the National Geographic they have ones that require you pay them. There may be ones that pay your room and board.
But whatever you choose, good luck!
Judging by your English skills, I think you should've went to school instead.
I also did a lot of travelling. For my Spanish language credit, I spent 10 weeks in Quito, Ecuador in a Spanish immersion program through OSU. The next summer I spent 10 weeks in the Ecuadorian rain forest with a Quichua family through Arizona State.
In the meantime I visited friends in other cities and traveled around Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany with my brother.
Seriously, you will never have more money, time, or freedom than your college years. You can get loans from the government -- do so. This will be the cheapest money you ever encounter. Right now my loan rate is locked in around 3.25 %. There are programs through the school where you can study abroad. There a programs through travel agencies that will give student discounts. In fact, an undergrad program is the best way to travel.
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
I went straight to college from high school as a physics major and did pretty poorly. I ended up dropping out for two years and during that time I worked full-time and even traveled a bit and made friends and had a life. Basically, grew up.
After I got all from that experience I could get out of it, and was tired of the same old same old and not living up to my potential, I was ready to quit my job and go back to college. I switched my major to computer science and have been having a good time since then.
A year off isn't that much really. The thought sounded scary to me coming from high school because I had just been in school for 12 years straight. But seriously, take the year off... it's not that bad and you'll grow as a person if you untilize it right.
Have you held down a real job before, supported yourself, etc? Any chance that you've worked in some venue having something to do with the subject you want to major in? (probably not) If you answer yes to one or both of those questions, consider taking a year off. Don't consider it a vacation from school though. It won't be. You'll learn more in that one year than in freshman year. Or senior year for that matter.
Got a once-in-a-lifetime scholarship? Go directly to school. It's crunch time.
Either way, be serious about this stuff. There's an enticing world out there, but alot of it could turn out to be gas stations and cubicles. What you do with yourself over the next 4-5 years will not determine the course of the rest of your life, but do finish what you start. Learn to work productively with other people, but learn how to think for yourself. Above all, to thy own self be true, and it follows as the night does the day that thou shall not be false to any man, blah, blah, blah....
The hardest part I am having with university is my addiction to computers. I spend 8+ a day just looking up crap or wasting time. You've got to know how to say no to the computer!
If you don't know what you want to do in your year out, go to uni. If you want a year out sometime during uni then fine - most places are cool with that. But if you take a year out and spend the whole time sponging off your folks and watching the TV, you will find it *much* harder getting a job later.
One big thing *not* to do in your year out is to do a year out with a sponsor company. In the UK, there are sponsorships going with engineering companies (to attract students to work at those companies afterwards). The deal is usually that you work two years with them, of which one will usually be before or during uni. I got sponsorship and decided to do a year out beforehand.
Big mistake. HUGE! Why? Well, your typical engineering company needs graduate-level people as a minimum standard. If you've just come out of high school, you can't help them. Result: you spend a year working on the production line. Now some time on the shop floor is a good thing, but most intelligent people do *not* want to do this. Eventually you settle into a rut, because the job needs no intelligence so you "switch off". And boy, is it hard to switch back on again when you start uni! To be honest, I didn't really start getting back into it properly until the fourth year of my course.
If you've got a real definite goal in mind, then great. "Me and my band are going to try and make a living off it." "I want to go to Africa and work with Oxfam." Or even "I want to travel round the world, just because it seems a cool thing to do." Excellent. This is the time to go and do it, while you've got no other committments. Get out there and go for it! But if you're not driven that way, you're wasting your time. A year flipping burgers is *not* a good use of your time and brains.
Another thing to consider is that you will have forgotten at least half (and probably more) of everything you learnt in the previous year at high school. That's all the stuff you need as the base for your first year at uni. So you'll be starting at a disadvantage, and if you're unlucky then you may never completely catch up.
Grab.
I knew this would happen! I finished Business Administration from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. Perhaps this everlasting public humiliation will help me to remember to check my grammer. Thanks, I guess.
I am a high school history teacher, so I have some insight that others might not have. College is great, but...a few things to consider. One, taking a year or two off, to travel or work, is great. The experiences are invaluable. Don't piss away your youth, because you'll never get these years back, when your young, unencumbered, and healthy. Hell, I'm 36, got a wife, 3 kids, an MA in Education, 10 years teaching, and you know what, other than working for a few years prior to teaching, I did nothing. Boy do I wish I had.
/.) immersed in history books and classical literature and history and I think that we have debased education today. And I think there is certainly a place for knowledgable people in all aspects of life, it's just that we don't value education. So, either pursue your interests, enjoy life, and don't measure your life by how many numbers precede the decimal. Or, get a useful skill and make good use of the public library.
You don't know where your life will lead, what you'll want to do, nor where your experiences will guide you. If you were going to drop out, do drugs, follow the grateful dead ro something, that's another matter. But by broadening your horizons, you'll be better off. Now, what are you going to get out of collge? For the most part, a piece of paper. Employers have caught onto the game, know about grade inflation, and know that most of what goes on in college is about as useful as tits on a nun. In fact, what matters today is graduate school. So, thinking you're going to college and than going to get a good job, well, think again. Unless you get a degree in math or something specific which has direct usefulness in the "real world". Now, I love history and the classics, and spend my free time (away from
Your high school counselors are all going to say go to college, yada yada... It's not always the best option. Explore tham all.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
Then realize that taking a year off of college raises your chances of being one of these people enormously. Seriously, poor people in this country have it *very* bad, go meet them then make your college decision.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
I forgot. In the U.S., your drinking age is typically 21, isn't it? Good point. One more reason to chill out for a couple of years and then become Big Man on Campus.
(FYI, several Canadian provinces permit drinking at age 18 and the rest are all 19.)
The best advice I could give anyone who is fresh out of high school is to take half a year off to travel around the globe and see the world. Once you've gotten that 9-5 job you can kiss your freedom goodbye, so enjoy it while you still can. Broaden your view, meet people in far-away countries and visit those places you've only seen in your schoolbooks. Expect a tough ride, work for food and a roof above your head (if you're lucky), but in the end it will be worth it. Besides, you have plenty of time to think about what you really want out of life along the way.
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If you have or can get the money through loans/grants/scholarships, go now. State schools are always cheaper than private, but the differences in the education are a topic for another question. If you're particularly good at something, say drawing or coding, look for a summer job or internship or something along those lines. Even if you wait until spring to matriculate, do it now while you can still get money from the previously mentioned sources.
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
Asking a bunch of strangers on an IT-centric website like Slashdot gets you nothing if you really just want to learn to cook, for instance. But here's my advice:
1.Get a job for 6-12 months doing something you like. This step can be avoided if you have a trust fund or money already saved up. Unless this happens to be your dream job, PLAN TO QUIT in 6-12 MONTHS!
2. Take the money and go outside your comfort zone. Travel outside the US for a few months, preferably in a country that doesn't have English as a primary language. Stay at hostels. Meet people. Experience life. Don't jump right back into the daily grind of the academic world. There's plenty of daily grind waiting for you when you start working full-time.
3. Use the time you've set aside between high school graduation and starting college to figure out what it is that you enjoy. That should narrow your focus enough to start targeting universities and disciplines.
4. Once you know what you want, go get it. Obsession is 9/10's of the law. You won't get to do it right away, so plan on holding a few crappy jobs on the way, so don't stress.
5. Wear a condom.
Take a break if you need it rather than failing out when you get to college. Also, resist the temptation of excessive drug use when you get there. I realize that most people don't run into this problem, but it is worth avoiding in case you do. I went off to school as a physics major, but I really wasn't interested in school as a full time job yet. I was, however, able to cram before finals every quarter and pull off C's. I started using adderall pretty frequently, eventually this led to crystal meth (adderall is harder to get). Eventually I was kicked out of school for bad grades, I'm still cleaning up the mess. If you think this could only happen to some moron, you're wrong. I've seen the same thing happen to quite a few smart kids, many of whom were science/computer science majors.
I'd advise you to just go to college and get it over with. You'll get your piece of paper quickly and will be able to get on with your life. That way, you're 22 and can travel all you want without any worries or stress.
If you go away for a couple of years you just wont be into it any more, especially having to put up with people who have just left high school and don't know anything of the world.
But whatever you may read here on slashdot, DO get that piece of paper, however worthless it may be, or you will be shitted on your whole life for not having it (unless you start your own business, but that's another story).
Go ahead and start on your degree. Pick up a job or an internship or something in your chosen field of study. The biggest problem I ran into was that one needs a job to gain experience, but all the HR people want you to have experience. So if you build a little bit of both at the same time, you're coming out on top. I got on with a medium-sized company (actually we lead the nation in casting iron, but there are probably only about 300 people who work in our plant). I'm a systems analyst; my office is right next to the company's VP and I'm only 22.
Windows isn't the answer... it's the question. NO is the answer!
I was a college freshmen this year, and I made a lot of friends in the first few days. Everyone really fell in to two categories. There were those that skipped the orientation, and didn't get involved, my room-mate included. Most of these people are already gone. Get involved, it looks great for resumes and on campus jobs. Don't get in a habit of being lazy, you'll be kicked out before you know it.
In school, you will learn about options you hadn't considered before. For example, I was a computer geek. I had no idea how my fellow freshmen knew what chemical engineering was or how a 17 year-old knows that she wants to study nuclear engineering. Sure, high schools have computers to spark interest, but not high-powered physics labs and so forth. You may want to avoid a school that makes you pick a major too soon, and approach your general freshman requirements with an open mind. Besides new academic options, you will also find out about sports and other activities you might not have considered.
That all said, I wish I had travelled during school, as an exchange student. I didn't get to live in another country until much later in life, and it has been an interesting, sometimes wonderful, sometimes frustrating experience. As a foreign student, you have much more structure and support and you're surrounded by other young people looking to make friends, and it can be no more expensive than studying at home. I thought I had to graduate from college in four years, so I didn't consider the opportunity when I had the chance.
One tradeoff is the expense of taking your time (foreign exchange credits may not all transfer) vs. graduating as soon as possible. It depends on how much debt you have to take on. If you live in a state with a good community college system, then that's a good way to save money, and with the money you save, it makes it easy to spend a semester or year abroad, even if it does push out your graduation date.
College is supposed provide a structure for figuring out the kinds of things you are trying to figure out. Since you don't seem to have a plan of your own, I think you should give it a try.
I dunno. The older I get, the less interested I find myself in younger generations. They're all just in a different stage of their lives or something. Of course, if it's just a year like the article author, that's no big deal. However, once you're 21, it's just not as cool to be buying beer for and hanging out with only 18 year olds.
seriously..don't wait. Most people that take a year off never end up going.
You may also lose finanical help that you would be able to get (your parents may be able to get Plus loans and such), as that year off will end your 'dependant' status.
Go now, get it over with before prices go up even more too..
I graduated high school chomping at the bit, after the equivolent of two years high school and two years vocational studies in Computer Sciences (the stuff that gets you officiated for the trench-fighting support tech dweeb type)), i was ready to get out, especially after turning 18 in my junior year... .sig), and even have a proto-roommate (an old friend who stays here three days a week due to lack of internet conectivity at home (Geek + no net connection...)
I went straight to the local community college http://www.mccfl.edu/ in preparation for either USF. After 1.5 semesters, one filled with a dumber then a brick math 'prof' (after having a phenominal one in Sr yr HS), said 'prof' got replaced by a perminent sub who actually knew how to teach) and an English prof who didn't know the definition of a Research paper (dropped that one), i'm finally settling into a groove here.
I'm still living at home (when you're parent's home is closer to school then 50% of the student housing and rent is a supreme bitch, you tend to stay put), I tinker with hardware and software in my free time, am involved with an organization or two (see
Oh yeah, and various scholarships provided by the state knock off 75% of my tuition costs and the fed grants pay the rest. CC tuition is so low, in fact that i get a chunk of change back in the middle of every semester (it's sad when the feds are paying YOU to go to college, ain't it).
The classes themselves feel much like high school, with more freedome attached, more lecturing and fewer restrictions. THe majority of teachers implement a "3 absences unexcused and you're out" policy, that although rarely enforced, makes sure you attend class regularly.
I'm 19, almost 20, don't drink, don't plan on it. Had a g/f, almost got her pregnant (that was hell), I've been through a lot in the last few years, still not planning on getting out of town until it becomes absolutly necessary.
Logistical Chaos Officer http://www.slagg.org - LAN Gaming in Sarasota FL,USA
Experiance is the best teacher.
Thats incredibly wrong. I'm working right now where its obvious some people only have their experience (ie, the picked a few things up maybe from people that had formal teaching). Their code now is horrendious,and its really hard to get them to do things the right way.
You need theory AND experience....you aren't very effective at all with only one.
Unless said 18 yr old is really cute right? ;-)
more important than taking a year off now is doing a year abroad, or at least a semester.
Absolutely agree with this-- a year is definitely better than a semester, because you'll be getting used to things the first semester, especially if it's in a foreign language.
There are lots of ways to do a year abroad as both an undergrad and a grad student, often with someone else helping foot the bill. It's also not much more expensive to spend a year abroad than a few weeks or month, especially if you're living like a student.
It also seems to make more sense to travel after university, rather than high school, or even after doing university, living like a poor student while making a reasonable income, and then traveling for a year. The important thing is to not be seduced by the lifestyle that's possible with money, because you can get stuck supporting it.
The social hit comes more from being away from people his own age if he doesn't follow the herd to college. He'll be, what, 18 surrounded by working stiffs and too young to go out with them. The college crowd will naturally look down on him as a townie for falling behind. It's a no win situation.
I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
I have seen students say that they were going to take a year off and most of them never return to school. I recommend you go straight to collage. Here is something else to think about. You don't have to pick a major your first two years at most Universities. You enrole as a general studies or undecided. You take a couple fun classes and most of your core classes. The fun classes to have some fun with learning and they others you will need. Then your off to the races when you're a jr and sr. After you have a four year degree, take a year off. If you have student loans you can defer them until you start working. take the year and travel. This will give you an opertunity to meet many people and learn about their lives. This will all help in choosing a career that you will like when the year is over. Hey, maybe you will find a cool job overseas or something. *shrug* You never really know. Good luck.
Go where chicks are!
There's not a better life than the one at the University. Go and get it. Besides... I always think each opportunity as my last opportunity. And sometimes it turns to be true.
College is all about motivation. You have to want to go, and want to kick ass and take names. I was a mathematics undergrad (now getting my masters in telecommunications), and you have to want to do well. I got burnt out from math by my 3rd year, but I still struggled through it. Didn't graduate with a stellar GPA, but still got into grad school, in a program that I know have a 3.8/4.0 average.
Take the harder classes, the more difficult major. I see friends of mine who were advertising and marketing majors, who are living at home with their parents unable to find a job. And these are people who graduated with academic honors and went out every weekend to get plastered. Don't get me wrong, I still had my fun on weekends, but I made sure my work was done.
Swallow your pride and get to know your professors. Email them to chat about homework in their office hours. Shoot off an email if you find an interesting article that pertains to research they are doing. Get yourself known around the professor community, it will help more than you can even imagine.
But most of all, have fun. Explore topics that interest you, audit a course if you just want to sit in on it. Get involved with campus activities and things around the University community. College is all about making connections...the people you meet might be able to get you a job one day.
There is something to be said for taking time off and starting college WHEN YOU ARE READY. The counter-argument, of course (which usually carries the day) is that it gets harder to go back to school after taking time off.
A good liberal arts college will let you explore your interests before deciding "what you want to be when you grow up." And many offer the opportunity to spend time overseas as part of the degree program. This one for example, sends over half of its students overseas.
There are also post degree fellowships that allow for overseas travel and cultural "exploration" One example is
100% Correct. Theory is useless without experience and vice versa. Experience is going to give you the confidence to try something and see how it works out. Theory is going to help you realize that your harebrained idea won't work and to stop before it's too late. Of course, this situation is not the only one you will encounter, but a balanced combination of theory and experience will definitely prove useful to most scenarios.
"Nature doesn't care how smart you are. You can still be wrong." - Richard Feynman
That being said, Germany has better English-language penetration than many other European countries. Take Spain, for instance. Good luck finding anyone there who speaks English. My wife and I had better luck between my German and her French when we attempting communication. Hungary was a similar situation. You get outside of Budapest and nobody speaks English. Many older folks there speak German, so we were ok, but there was one place we stayed where we communicated with the owner by means of a Hungarian to English dictionary (but not English to Hungarian).
It seems the countries most likely to have good English penetration are the ones where they have a small, but well-educated population. You can't really do a damn thing in the world if you don't speak English, so unless you life is confined to whatever little hamlet you grew up in, learning English is a requirement. For instance, in the Netherlands, I had no trouble finding English speakers (even though I speak roughly-passable Dutch). In Spain, it was impossible.
Not that I think everyone should have to learn English. I'm just pointing out facts here. Lord knows I don't speak the language of all 30 or so countries I've visited or lived in, and I'm not complaining about countries where people don't speak English. I'm just saying your friend is full of shit when he says everyone in Europe speaks English. I'm not saying that they should speak it, but I am saying that they do not speak it.
"Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
Kids need to learn about all the other options out there including taking a year to see the world. Done right, it doesn't need to cost a lot (I've stayed in places where my accomodations cost the equivalent of $3.50/night and that was split between 3 people), and the lessons you learn about other cultures can never be taught in a 500 seat lecture hall.
Other good options include trade school and apprenticeships. The avg. starting salary for the undergrad class of 2004 was $30,212. The starting salary for an electrician is about the same, but I have never heard of someone dropping $150,000 to become an electrician.
"Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
Not for any reason like "keeping up with studies" or anything like that-- if it's important to you, you'll go to school even if you take some time off now.
See, the trick is you're just getting out of high school. And as such, you have absolutely _no idea_ who you are.
(Yes, I know, you're eighteen and omniscient and I am full of shit.)
(And no, I don't know who you are, either.)
High School is a very sterile place. You get exposed to a very limited set of views and ideas from which you attempt to assimilate what you consider the best of into Who You Are.
The Real World is a pretty sterile place, too. It's unprofessional to show anything other than a slightly different but still very limited set of views and ideas.
College, though, is a firehose of views and ideas. College is where we go to figure out who we are. College is where we figure out what we want to do, so don't be afraid of not knowing that walking in.
That said, you mentioned work and travel-- work, yeah, gotta pay the bills, but remember: Going to school now does _not_ imply you're not going to travel. You owe it to yourself to go backpack around Europe or see China or whatever else. Don't decide not to travel; decide you're taking a raincheck.
-JDF
Thanks for the lesson attempt.
Gone to school.
Basic Rule: Verbs have at least three principal parts: the present form (go); the past form (went); and the past participle (gone). The past participle is always used with a helping verb such as have, has, or had. If the verb is regular, the past form and the past participle form are formed by adding d or ed.
I saw myself 20+ yrs ago when I read your post... I went to "Community College" while working near full time, and walked away with the coveted A.S. Then found a job, worked it for almost 2 yrs. The job ended, and I went back to school for the B.A. All the while traveling with in the U.S. After graduating with the B.A. Europe, backpacking.... now 15 years later, I live in Europe. -- "Be the ball, Danny."
Sig Hansen?
Otherwise, if you don't know exactly what you want to do, perhaps go to the community college to get the general stuff out of the way.
If you don't have the stomach for that, or you really want to not do school again, join the military. Not the Army or the Marines where you're going to be cannon fodder in whatever country we happen to disagree with or want to liberate at the time. Something like the Navy or Air Force where you'll actually learn a trade and see the world and do things that you would never do in civilian life. And save money and get in on whatever the G.I. Bill incarnation is at the time, so that when you are ready, you won't be sponging off mom and dad.
The military will also give you discipline if you don't have it. Nothing like your liberty being taken away if you aren't doing well in the military technical school to motivate you.
Been there. Done that.
DT
Is this thing on? Hello?
You can postpone admission to a college you have been accepted at for a year.
If you don't know what you want to study don't go. I wasted 5 semesters studing first Pre-Law and then Coummnications, and finally Computer Science. I have been studing Computer Science for two semesters now and I am positive that is what I want to do. However, going into my 7th semester in college, I am exhausted. I took so many classes that don't even count toward my degree. I also took two breaks between semesters. Once between the 3rd and 4th semester and once between 4th and 5th. I sat out a semester each time. To be honest, I have 3 semesters to go to just get an AS in CS. This is because the courses have to be taken in sequence, so I have to take a few courses each semester instead of doubling up. To be honest, at this point I am tired of being in school altogther and I am frustrated at the length it is taking. I know it is my fault for rushing in. That is my point. If you piddle around college for a few semesters you will get tired of it. It is best to go in knowing what you want and taking as few semesters as possible to get it. If you feel that you must go, then take ONLY courses that definitely transfer to any major you might want to take. I am talking the basic english, math, science and history. If you are forced to take more classes at least take fun or usefull classes. That way if you decide to leave school, at least you learned something interesting or useful. I had a friend who never graduated in engineering, but took one course in CAD for fun. He has made a nice living off of that one class.
You can always work while in school, and there are lots of travel opportunities to take advantage of. Someone mentioned studying abroad, which is great because you get to travel and you can often get someone else to pay for it - I did, spent a year in Germany on scholarship. I also spent a summer travelling and camping all over the western US and Candada as part of a geology program for non-majors, earning credit for 3 science classes in the process and having an amazing experience. In marching band (proud UGA alum here!) I travelled to some great bowl games and also SEC and NCAA basketball tourneys. Great memories and lots of fun I doubt I would have had if I had been busy working some McJob right out of high school.